CHAPTER THREE – CONGRATUALTIONS IT’S a…
(Part 3)
Opening my eyes to the sunshine to see pearls of diamonds over the forest, I went to the window and inhaled deeply. The fresh air flowed through my body and soothed my stiff bones.
Looking down at my stomach, I was taken aback by what I saw. My baby had doubled in size overnight; I had gone from a small three-month bump to a large six-month pregnant stomach.
I gasped and realised that, although the baby had grown overnight, there was no pain. And even more disturbing still, there was no movement. ‘ROHAN!’ I cried as I shook him to wake him up.
He jumped to his feet and I sat on the bed. He regarded me as he would a stranger - which, I suppose, was fair enough, given I’d just woken him up with a good strong shake! ‘What happened?’ he asked as he looked at my expanded belly.
‘I don’t know. I just woke up and it was this size - the baby isn’t moving any more!’ I cried, waking Lily with the noise.
He touched my stomach and indeed he could feel no movement. ‘Don’t panic. Lily - go get some water from the stream and get Autumn!’ he yelled as she exited the room and flew to Autumn’s house, who very swiftly came flying into the room.
‘Here, drink this,’ she said as she gave me the water. I quickly gulped down the cool liquid as I prayed the baby was still alive.
We waited a few minutes. Nothing.
Although I never planned on becoming pregnant, and though the sheer pain had made me think twice about what could be growing inside of me, I realised I wanted this baby more than ever and I wanted to settle and raise a family with Rohan. ‘LOOK!’ Lily shouted from the door.
We all looked at the glowing bulge that was my stomach; beautiful pastel shades of mint green, pink and turquoise danced around my abdomen and I finally felt my baby moving again. ‘It - it’s beautiful,’ Autumn smiled as she came closer.
Proud of my bravery and relieved our baby was still alive, he sat next to me on the bed, cuddling and kissing my stomach. As everyone sighed with relief, Autumn and Lily began packing away our belongings.
‘OUCH!’ Rohan shrieked suddenly as he jumped back from my stomach. The movements were still peaceful and slow but on closer inspection, we started to see the cause of Rohan’s pain. ‘Can you see the hands?’ Rohan asked, pointing to the area.
I went to the window to use the natural light to see my baby’s limbs for the first time.
A hand, a foot, another hand, the other foot… another hand. ‘Three hands!’ I shrieked as the movements eased.
‘It’s okay - don’t worry about that,’ Rohan replied calmly as he tried not to think about the possibility of having mutant offspring.
I harked back to the fact that any mystical being with mixed blood as strong as our own would not be normal, but put it out of my mind in the hope that this one would be different.
I took another deep breath and got myself ready to leave the forest for the next leg of my journey into the unknown. ‘Take this,’ Lily offered me a small brown bag.
It was a woven small brown pouch with a twig securing the top. ‘What is it?’ I asked - about to open it - but Autumn advised against it.
‘It’s a little something to help you in your darkest hour,’ Autumn replied as she gave me a big hug and wished me well. ‘You’re different to Rose, you know,’ she continued as she grabbed my hands and dwarfed them with her own, larger shovels.
I smiled and my stomach started glowing again but this time a sharp bolt of pink light shot out and hovered over Autumn. It circled her head before dissolving into pink, glittering snow, which settled on her head.
She rolled her eyes and began to smile. ‘You’re going to be absolutely fine. You don’t just have Rohan protecting you…’ she said as she pointed to my stomach and the glowing began to decease.
I asked Lily if I could say a private goodbye to her and she guided me to the stream. ‘I can’t believe you’re leaving,’ she expressed as tears rolled down her face.
Forgetting about the increasingly large bump in front of me, I grabbed her and held her tight. ‘You have no idea how much you mean to me, Lily. I will always love and be in debt to you. You’re my best friend, my sister and will always be in my heart. Now, all I ask is that you follow your heart and don’t let doubts take away your dreams. Even without your powers, you put a spell on people just with your loving personality. I love you!’ I said. She began to cry uncontrollably.
The emotional farewell was taking its toll on both of us and before we could delay my exit any further, Rohan came over and escorted us to the entrance of the forest.
Trying to see the positives of our departure, we left the forest to cheers, fairies wishing us well on our journey, and we began our trek to the village of Ignotum.
Wishing I could use magic to get there, I remembered how nauseating the transportation spell had left us. ‘Maybe not when you’re so heavily pregnant…’ Rohan mumbled unconvincingly as I moaned that using the magic would help us get there quicker.
As we trudged through the dense forest, I could feel my feet giving into my tired and weary body. ‘Can’t we rest for a minute?’ I asked as I sat on a large rock.
Rubbing my feet, he looked slightly annoyed at the delay but as he regarded the movement in my stomach, he realised how hard it must have been for me, carrying this extra weight. ‘Okay - we’ll rest for a few minutes but we need to get there soon. It’s too dangerous for us to be just walking around here.’ He settled on the floor, closed his eyes and started to massage my feet. It was so peaceful.
The sunlight shimmered through the trees, creating a magical environment, the birds sang the sweetest song whilst playing with each other in the sky, and the grass felt like velvet on my bare feet. In fact, we almost forgot we were on the run from dangerous forces.
Unfortunately, we were quickly reminded of these threats as a rustling in the bushes gained in both momentum and volume.
<CLICK ON THE YOUTUBE VIDEO AT THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THIS PAGE WHILST READING THIS CHAPTER TO ENHANCE THE EXPERIENCE>
Rohan jumped in front of me and his fangs rapidly filled his mouth. He was ready to attack. ‘Don’t move,’ he circled me, following the sound in the bushes.
My mind raced with what was waiting to attack us and I too was ready to fight. My stomach shone a fierce red colour and the movements grew in strength.
The adrenaline had taken over me and I no longer felt pain, just pure anger and rage.
We both now circled the large rock, making sure we were touching at all moments, until the time had come to witness our tormenter.
He dived out of the bushes like a rabid dog and only slowed down when he was hit by a flash of fire from my stomach. ‘You’ll regret that!’ he barked as he struggled to get back up.
Rohan went charging towards him.
Punches flew, jaws snapped, and with minutes Rohan was thrown against a tree. With a loud thud, he hit the floor and there was no movement.
Making sure Rohan was no longer a threat; his attention was now focused on me. I stood still, ready to defend my baby.
As he advanced on me, frothing at the mouth and showing that my previous perception of his size was dangerously optimistic, I was presented with this seven-foot beast.
With black fur covering his body and fiercely sharp teeth, which screamed of the pains of his past victims, he stood inches away from me and began to taunt: ‘I remember you, you’re the little witch who caught me off guard with your husband. So - what are you doing with this blood sucker? I don’t think the Elders would be too happy to know you’re fraternising with someone from another circle…’
Slowly backing away, I knew his attitude and smell were familiar to me. Even in his Lycan state, I knew it was Lowell. ‘What do you want from us?’ I snapped as my coat blew open and my large stomach was in full view.
‘Oh, what’s this?!’ he asked, jeering, as he paused for a moment, shocked by what he was seeing. There was a scuffle in the background and Rohan was back to his feet.
Seemingly all okay, he now circled his attacker and looked over at me intently. He used our connected telekinesis to tell me what to do: ‘He’s fast so just be careful and keep a good distance from him. I will try to get as close as possible to bring him down.’
I gave a discrete nod but knew I was going to change the plan to make sure no harm came to my baby. ‘I know you’re stupid, but I’m sure even you can tell a pregnant woman when you see one,’ I spat back as Rohan shook his head at my sarcastic, antagonistic reply.
‘It’s not your baby is it?’ he mocked, turning back to Rohan with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
Rohan refused to answer and Lowell’s focus switched back to me. ‘I’ll take that as a yes then! Oh, wait till the Elders hear about this. Forget being in public without a member of your circle, this abomination really fires up The Ancient Codex,’ he mocked as he descended on me.
His pace grew faster and faster, as Rohan tried to grab him. His taste for my unusual blood filled his senses and once more he threw Rohan away, like a rag doll. Anger coursed through my body and grounded me to the spot.
He launched at me.
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